I Depart

Well, I think I've managed one post a week so far this year...or pretty close to it.

But you're going to have to miss one week, because business is taking me across the Atlantic for two weeks, starting tomorrow.

But I'll make up for it. Sometime.

Until then, Auf wiedersehen!

...Have Made Shipwreck

On this day in history, one year ago, BC Ferries' Queen of the North left the port of Prince Rupert for the run to Vancouver. It was evening on the 21st of March, and there were 101 people on board, including crew. She was following a course she had taken many times before, with the waterways well charted and planned.

But several hours later, just after midnight on the 22nd of March, the Queen of the North crashed into underwater rocks in Douglas Channel, just off Gil Island, going to the ocean floor just an hour later. 99 people were rescued in lifeboats - two perished.

There is no official conclusion regarding the cause of the sinking, but sufficient is apparent at this point to draw upon the current knowledge. An autopilot aberration coupled with human error combined brought the 125 metre (385 foot) ship, according to some reports, about a kilometre off course.

'It was a dark and stormy night' with choppy 1-2 metre waves, 80 km/h winds, and lashing rain. Most passengers were awakened by the collision, and many were hustled into open lifeboats wearing only pajamas in the wind and rain. Remember this is March in northern BC, and not likely many degrees above freezing.

The nearest civilization was Hartley Bay, a mostly aboriginal fishing community of about 200 residents. Accessible only by sea or air, no grocery stores, nothing but unofficial people.

They heard the mayday over their VHF radios, and they sent their boats, they opened their homes, cooked hot meals, supplied blankets and clothing and all manner of hospitality to the cold, wet, and stranded survivors.
(More data...)

Shipwreck is not something we're accustomed to in this day of modern technology. Most Canadians were astounded that such a thing could happen to us. This is not Indonesia, or India, or Bangladesh, where they use every manner of floating device for ferries, and overload them. This was a sophisticated, proven vessel, and had a very small load. Why should she sink?

The answer in this case is very simple: She strayed off course.

I think we should make a fundamental note of this principle today. We may have education. We may have money. We may have experience. But if we become careless, and depart from the charted course of safety, rocks of destruction await that will respect no ignorance or imagined sincerity.


This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare. Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck. (1Timothy 1:18-19)

We may watch for leaks, we may press for education, we may achieve success and experience, but if we haven't kept the course... -we've made shipwreck.

Staying afloat is about staying on course. On this day, let's pause and remember, and engrave in our character the remembrance of the importance of keeping the faith.

Running the Race of Patience

"A paradox", G. K. Chesterton said, "Is truth standing on its head to get attention".

So, here's a paradox for today's post. In Hebrews 12:1.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

'Run', with 'patience'.

This is a paradox, and it's designed to get attention. And applicably enough, the truth that it holds is one that's quite important to all of us, but probably more so to those of us 'in the days of our youth'.

You see, we get the idea of running a race. We get the idea of training with weights, of building endurance, and of laying the weights aside and running the race, all stops out.

But what does 'patience' have to do with 'running a race'? I mean, running is about running and patience is about waiting - how is patience supposed to help us win a race when we're running full tilt, no time for delay?

Run with patience. When we were children we often heard "Don't run, be patient, etc." In fact there's a song I often heard, -yes, my mom sang it to me when I was in a hurry: Be patient/ Be patient/ Don't be in such a hurry/ When you get impatient/ You only start to worry/ Remember/ Remember/ That God is patient too/ And think of all the times/ When others had to wait for you

For all it's virtues, that hardly sounds like running a race.

Run with patience. Has this paradox gotten your attention yet?

It doesn't mean 'slow down'. It doesn't mean 'sit down'. It means RUN, laying aside every weight, -but with patience.

I'd like to give you a new look at patience: Patience is not twiddling my thumbs, waiting for 'something' to happen. Patience is a mental powerhouse that enables us to maintain a clear head and clear vision, even in the most tedious, complex, confusing, and stressful conditions.

Consider the race: All runners are ready, set, on their mark, and at the crack of the pistol all are running. The sun is blistering, and everyone is running to the physical limit of their bodies, sweating from every pore. To your left, your nemesis is starting to edge past you, and your temper starts to tingle.

Look at the paradox again, and edit: 'Run, with impatience'. What happens next?

You see, we might have learned patience as sitting still and being quiet, but real life patience for grown men and women takes on a different paradigm - Running, racing, with patience.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. (James 1:2-4)

Run, with patience.

Offense...And Christian Maturity

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11 KJV)

Offense: The Mark of Depravity
If anyone needs evidence of the depravity of fallen mankind, here's one place to look. The word 'Offense' holds a bit of a chilly sound to it. And it's not a wonder that it does, because offense is something that has turned friends into enemies, and relatives into strangers. It has the power of blocking communication. It has the power of breaking hearts and breaking homes. Worst of all, it has the power of turning a heart of flesh into a heart of stone.

I'm not talking about criminal offense. I'm not talking about legal offense. I'm talking about the phenomenon of social offense.

Offense: The Mark of Immaturity
So what exactly is this social phenomenon? Why is it that people will cling so tenaciously to petty grievances, grudges, and slights?

I understand why, and at the same time I don't understand it at all. Growing up, I had more than one opportunity to observe this phenomenon take place. People who take offense, hold grudges, and sometimes even nurse feuds. I don't get it. Exactly how is taking offense supposed to solve the problem, if there even is a problem?

It doesn't. It never has and it never will. Most often the act of taking offense manufactures a problem out of a non-problem, and by that act produces a hatfull of other problems to cherish, to take out and look at every once in a while, just to keep the imagined grievance fresh enough to keep from feeling totally immature about the whole thing.

It appears to me that what is obvious is that people have never learned how to deal with problems, period. When we were children who had a 'social conflict' with a peer, we solved it the way we thought was the right way - we'd fight it out and it was over. Then we grew up and we couldn't fight anymore, so the problems we keep incurring never get dealt with at all, we just take offense and never speak to each other again.

The kids fight and the parents take offense. To both, I have the same advice: Grow up.

Offense: The Mark of Pride
Offense has one big powertrain called Pride. It does an excellent job for it too, because Pride is incapable of humility. Pride is also incapable of solving one single problem. It can blow a lot of smoke and hot air, but let there be work that needs doing, and Pride won't stoop to that level. This is the driving force behind Offense - in fact, offense can only occur under the express orders and direction of pride. Solution to offense: Humility. Solution to pride: Humility.

[Light Bulb]: There are a few things that are becoming clearer to me, right here as I'm writing: As it has become more obvious that pride is the ruling faction of immaturity, so also the definition of what true maturity is has become clear. True maturity comes only with true humility, and true humility only comes as we die to our (depraved) flesh.

There is, after all, more than meets the eye with the need for 'true men and women'...

My friend, if you aspire to true maturity, then you must also aspire to true humility. If with all your heart, you seek this in Christ, you shall find it, that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

Cost of Outreach? Looking At The Numbers

This is not exactly breaking news, but I'll assume that most of you hadn't known it before - at least, I didn't.

With its last megacensus in 2001, World Christian Trends produced some striking facts. Check it out here.

More than one striking trend there, but this is the one I'm picking on for a post today:

The total cost of Christian outreach averages $330,000 for each and every newly baptized person.

Why?

I don't know exactly how the 'cost of outreach' was calculated, but I'm assuming it does not include humanitarian aid, development, or other charitable deeds, which should not be done as nor counted as a proselytization effort. I'm assuming that this 'cost of outreach' is indeed 'cost of outreach'.

This figure is - a high figure. And as you can imagine, the secular of society look at it and wonder how many starving mouths could be fed with that investment.

Souls must be saved, at any cost. However, I believe that this shows that there is probably something dearly wrong with the general approach of modern Christianity to the mission field. Why is that figure so high?


You see, this means that a whole lifetime of the average believer's tithe won't pay the cost of outreach for one single conversion. That's bad.
It took only about US$22M to come up with that figure. (Dividing the US$1.1B cost of the annual megacensus over the fifty main points that are gleaned.) That's enough to pay for 66 conversions.

There must be some overhead somewhere.


You know, somehow I get the picture that when Jesus walked the earth, when Peter preached and when Paul traveled, they didn't work on that kind of a budget. It didn't take twenty years' worth of savings to reach a soul.

We always took for granted that organized religion made things like outreach operate more efficiently. Evidently not.

I'm sure there are many reasons why. I don't know them all, but I see a few:

1) The edifices of religion have built themselves boats the size of Queen Mary 2, and are trying to fish off the sides. It may look absolutely magnificent plying the Grand Banks, but it will never work as a fishing boat. The Gospel was meant to be spread from one Christian to another, through interaction and witness and preaching and evangelism. It's time for us to get out and weather the waves in the fishing boats of old Judea - as disciples of Christ, not 'authorized representatives of the (insert union division) of the (insert conference denomination)'.

2) Bad Christian witness. Meet my friend Joe. (not his real name) Joe became interested in Christianity after a tumultuous teenage life and became friends with a young Christian pastor who was starting a downtown mission in a city not far from here. Some months later this pastor was found to be in an adulterous relationship with Joe's girlfriend. Joe moved on to other religions, studying with Wiccans and considered them to be at least honest in their corruption instead of hypocritical like Christians were.

'Going out and witnessing' is a secondary duty. The first is to be a good Christian witness. First inreach, then outreach.

3) Too much religion, not enough salvation. Jesus declared: John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. We thought we were lifting up Christ, but we were only waving church signs. Jesus Christ is absolutely the only one we ought to be lifting up.

4) We haven't been listening to the Master. We've been toiling all night long and caught nothing. Somewhere, He is standing on the shore, and He has advice as soon as we'll listen. "Cast your net on the other side of the boat." When we start listening to Him, the harvest is more than the net can hold, or the ships.


In the meantime, look, and count the cost of doing it our way.

Contact Info

Well, I've concluded that for the sake of being polite, I really should have a 'contact' link somewhere on this page. After all, I do have an email address to go with the domain, and it is possible that somebody might want to comment off the public comment rack.

I would have done it - a long time ago, but of course, I was going to do something more elaborate, like a special html page, and I didn't have time for it, so I didn't get to it. For all functional purposes though, I suppose I can just make a post, and put a link to this post in the sidebar, and I can forget about it - until someone starts using it.

There are numerous ways to contact me, but I'll make it simple and give just one. You can email me with thoughts, questions, threats, challenges, and other diverse and sundry matters at:

contact (at) principlething (dot) com

Pathogens, Precedents, and Retrospect

It's been so long, I'd almost forgotten.

But I got a blast from the past this week - in the form of thermometers, medicines, chills, sweats, aches, dizziness, perpetual drowsiness, and the other characteristics of 'the flu'.

I've been trying to remember the last time I had a fever... it has to be about six or seven years. Oh, I get the opportunity to make acquaintance with the common cold a few times a years, but it really has been a while since I ran a temperature.

They say when you get to know something really well, you usually don't like it quite as well. My bed feels really good when I use it for no more than eight hours at a time, but make that 36 and it feels - really uncomfortable.

Funny how such a small thing like one or two degrees on the thermometer can change so much. The whole family was requested to provide some 'musical support' for a meeting this afternoon... and I would have had the opportunity to spend a bit of time on the three manual Rodgers organ. But better judgement prevailed, and I remained here at home, along with my sister who unfortunately is following my bad example and is now taking her turn with the thermometers and medicines.

So, I'm sitting here, with my fifth mug of hot peppermint tea, with my coat on, and wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket. This one's older than I am, and as far back as I can remember, 'the blue blanket' has served in so many lines of duty. We used to make tents with it in the living room - over some chairs with a few books to weight it down. We'd roll each other up in it, real tight, so the encapsulated sibling couldn't move. And it's the same blanket I used the last time I was running a temperature, back when I was a just a sprouting 13 year old. And it works well, because right now I'm getting a sweat instead of a chill - temperature is coming down and my eyes are starting to feel a bit brighter.

The thing that irritates me most about downtime like this is that it's so hard to even use the time to think. I was in bed from Wednesday afternoon till Friday morning, (that's a really bad example, Isaac, you gotta realize what a precedent you're setting) and the only thing I accomplished was that somewhere, in the feverish thoughts between waking and sleeping, I realized what was slowing down the secondary hydraulics on the garden tractor. Well, one score.

Actually, maybe I made a little more progress, because I decided what to write about for the next few posts. One of those topics will be 'Offense'. I'm sure everyone has seen this evil in more than one form in their life, and on more than one occasion - people get offended, sometimes over such petty matters that we have no idea where the problem really lies. Sometimes it's simple, sometimes it's complicated, but in every case, no person can be offended without 'taking offense'.

And the other topics - well, maybe I'll just get working on them, instead of 'writing about what I'm going to write about'.